Four Seasons

This morning Gary explained to me that there are four seasons:  getting out camping gear, camping, putting camping gear away, and planning for camping.  

We've been through three stages this year and now Gary is going into the planning stage.  During the summer's camping, he made notes of things he would like done better.  This usually means that UPS, Fed Ex, and the postal service will show up at our door regularly this winter with new, absolutely essential gadgets, many of them electronic.

One thing that he wanted to improve upon required only a trip to the Restore store, which is run by Habitat for Humanity.  He needed wheels, piping and some lug nuts (whatever those are) to create this gadget.

Next summer, Gary will use this thing to pull his canoe to the lake. Other years, he had to pick the canoe up, hoist it over his head, balance it and carry it from the campground.  This will be much, much easier on his back.  He's not as strong as he was in his younger years, but his mind is still agile. 

Over the cold months, he'll be making an improved television antenna, a wi fi system (so I can post these blogs), and many more gadgets to make it seem like we are back home with all the modern conveniences. 

What he can't change are the hiking trails (though he sometimes tries to get me to take a walkie talkie along), the lake (though there will be new floatation devices) and the wild creatures (I don't think he can improve on those).   

The Problem

It's not that things go wrong, it's how you handle things when they go wrong.

I had my fleece jammies on last night when Gary called.  He was supposed to be at a meeting in Appleton, but instead had a problem.  He had a flat tire.

Just change the tire, you might think, but it wasn't that simple.  Gary has a big van with big tires.  There was no way he could jack up the three ton vehicle and even if he did, there was no place where he could get the tire fixed at that hour.  Would I come and pick him up?

Sure thing. I changed back to street clothes and drove into Appleton to retrieve my old guy.  It's a half hour drive, and I had to watch for deer but that's what you do for someone you love.

He had the luck to break down in a building supply company parking lot.  He got the OK to leave the van there overnight.

This morning, Gary dug out his generator and asked a friend with a power jack to help out.  We met Ken at the lot and that was when I got a really good look at the problem.

I left the two men to work on it and went off walking around the store and parking lot.  For the past two days, I had been stuck inside because of the weather so I wanted to get some exercise.  I circled the story over and over until finally Gary came into the store to tell me all was well.  The tire was fixed and we all could go home.

When I came back I spent forty minutes in the swimming pool and topped that by walking Atom around town. By the end of the day, I felt I was finally back in the swing of things, starting with that long walk at the store.  

More Signs of Winter

Although it isn't officially winter until Solstice, yesterday's snowstorm says winter is here. I walked Atom for the first time since Monday. My boots collected the slush that froze on the bottoms, so I switched to shoes that had a better grip.  Soon, I stepped off the sidewalk, and my foot went through snow to flowing water beneath. The walk couldn't end until Atom had done his business, so I finished with cold wet feet.

There are some signs of winter.

Today I put the last of summer's tomatoes into soup.  I know that I will yearn for fresh tomatoes come January, but for the moment, I am heartily glad to be done with them.

Gary is caulking any place he thinks cold air might slip in. He measured the door leading to the garage. He wants to find an insulated door to replace it.

Tonight, I located the Christmas cards I bought in January.  Though it is only November, I keep turning to the December calendar to mark down holiday plans.

The United Methodist Church will hold its yearly advent concert on December 11, and that means scheduling extra rehearsals.  It also means hours of practice on the piano for me.

The writers and artists I know will once again join me for a Solstice celebration on December 15.  The exact title of the event is the One Size Fits All Sing for Your Supper Solstice Party.  Attendees must either perform or bring a dish to pass. Most do both.

Once again, Methodists will hold Las Posadas, the Hispanic Christmas celebration on December 17.  This is a favorite of my grandson Evan because he'll have a chance to pet the donkey and later whack away at the pinata. 

There are three church services on Christmas Eve, although only one my choir will sing at. Evan and Those People He Lives With will be here that night. Christmas Day is a nativity scene on a farm, but it is unlikely Gary and I will find time to be at that.  


It will be January before things slow down. Then we will truly be in the depths of winter.  

Abusing Gary

Today Gary turned 68 and that required something he considers abuse...in other words, we celebrated the day instead of ignoring it.

I found some birthday banners at the Seymour hardware store and by the time he woke up, they were tacked up around the house.  Later, I moved them to the windows at the front of the house so that everyone in the neighborhood knew he was getting older.  I announced the event on Facebook and encouraged others to acknowledge his natal day.  And acknowledge they did, with rude comments.

Gary was good natured about it in morbid way.  He posted a list of celebrities who died at the age of 68.

By mid morning we were hit with the first winter storm.  Gary, like many American men, likes to prove his masculinity by driving in snow, slush and ice.  He suggested we drive north to Rhinelander where we could find snow six inches deep.  Instead I gave him a big breakfast of buttermilk pancakes slathered with strawberries and whipped cream. He claims I was trying to kill him with calories but I was just trying to slow him down.  Instead of braving the worst weather, we both took naps.

Tonight we joined his family for a birthday celebration at a restaurant in Appleton, so he had his chance to drive on icy roads.  By then the road crews were out clearing and salting so it wasn't bad. We ate more than we should and took turns teasing Gary who was, after all, the oldest member of the party. (He's five months older than I am.)

Tonight we are home.  The banners will come down and tomorrow and life will go on as usual.  

I hope he is kind to me when my birthday rolls around.
 

Off Day

I don't get sick very often.

Today is the day.

Milestones and Markers

There are milestones or at least places to stop and take stock.

I mark the miles I walk on road maps in an imaginary walk around the world. I started in Seymour and headed west. Eventually, I crossed Alaska's Bering Strait to Russia, crossed Siberia and finally passed Istanbul. This trip has gone on for years, but it has kept me exercising. There are years when due to injuries, I've had to slow down a bit, but I am determined to eventually "walk" back to Seymour.  Yesterday, at 9:00 pm, I made my 18,000th mile. I have 152 miles before I reach Sofia, possibly in January, then go on to Bucharest.  I estimate that I have 7,000 miles to go. At the rate I am going, I should be able to finish the trip in less than ten years.

Two other milestones are the blogs I am involved in.

This blog will have its 10,000th "hit" in a week or so.  I have readers from around the world who are helping me achieve this goal. I check daily to see which nationalities are checking in on my life.  Who are you? I keep wondering. Why would someone from Jersey want to read about a Midwesterner like me?  Why do fifteen Germans at a time clock in?

The other blog, Black Coffee Fiction (http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com) reached a thousand "hits" last night, after only eight weeks in existence. Wade and I have been trying to interest book clubs in the short stories, offering to be available for on line chats with the participants.  Today, a librarian e-mailed to say she was going to suggest this to her patrons.  Black Coffee Fiction also is beginning to interest foreign readers.  We seem to be getting Russian fans and yesterday, one from South Africa. We hope for comments on our stories, even negative ones are welcome.

And so it goes, milestones that teach us and push us forward.

Snickers

Back in the early 1970s, I was doing temporary office work in the Chicago area. I got a job in the sales department of M&M/Mars in Oak Park, Illinois. I don't remember much about the job except that every morning there was a basket of fun sized candy on my desk. All of the M&M/Mars products were in that basket: Mars Bars, Milky Way, M&Ms, Twix, and yes, Snickers.

A Snickers candy bar is the world's most perfect food: nougat topped with caramel, peanuts and covered in chocolate. What could be better? It was made right there in the factory and the smell wafted over to the sales department. Every day, I ate every single Snickers bar out of that basket, leaving the rest. I never got sick of that bar. After three months and ten extra pounds, I decided I had better move on.

A decade later, when I took my son Chris trick or treating, we had an understanding. All Snickers bars were to be saved for his mother. He was fine with that deal.

These days, I have a grandson who saves all his trick or treat Snickers bars for his grandmother. This is one sweet racket I have and it gets worse.

Gary was grocery shopping this past week and found bags of Snickers fun sized bars on sale for $1.25. He is now hiding them around the house, three bars a day, the theory being I won't eat as many that way. I find one and threaten him with bodily harm if he doesn't immediately get me the other two. I think I scare him because he always gives in.

Other than Halloween I don't keep Snickers in the house. That way I convince myself that I am not a Snickers addict. I couldn't possibly be, could I?